Plug-in AI assistant watches your every move to take over your workday

For more and more people, it’s becoming hard to imagine a day without AI. Not to mention how much time it saves us at work: things that might take a few hours, AI can do in just a couple of minutes. Bvio Tech is a Hong Kong-based company that is trying to improve work efficiency even further. It has just introduced a new device called Violoop on Kickstarter.The company describes Violoop as “plug-in AI,” and unlike most AI systems, this one comes with its own physical device. It's aimed at people in different industries, from marketing to accounting, who spend hours every day working across multiple apps, organizing data, preparing reports, and typing emails.Violoop looks like a tiny old-school monitor about the size of a coffee mug that sits next to your laptop or desktop computer. It connects via USB-C and needs its own power socket, which is actually a good thing, so it doesn’t drain your computer’s battery or slow down its operations. On its screen, you can see the current time and what the AI is doing at the moment. Violoop is compatible with all the major systems, including Windows, macOS, and LinuxVioloop So, what might it be doing?Well, the whole concept is quite different from how we usually use AI. Our interaction with ChatGPT and similar platforms is typically done through questions and answers. You may type, for example, “How do I create an Excel spreadsheet based on this data?” and ChatGPT gives you instructions. It's incredibly helpful, but in this whole process you're still the one doing all the steps.Now, imagine having an assistant who could do those steps for you. AI is no longer telling you what to do. Instead, you're the one giving instructions, and it moves the mouse cursor across the screen, finds and opens files, types in formulas, and saves documents in the right folder. That’s exactly the idea behind the Violoop. Pledges for Violoop start at $399Violoop How does it know what’s the right thing to do? Because it’s watching you. All the time.As creepy as it sounds, that’s what keeps Violoop “in the loop.” It's always on, observing your workflow, and learning from it. It watches what tasks you usually do, in what order, and how you answer your emails. So, when you give Violoop a new command, it already has some context for the projects you work on. And sometimes you don’t even need to give it a prompt: the system will try to guess what your next request might be, and offer options to choose from.The whole concept sounds pretty cool, but this device is not quite a magic box. It has its limitations and can make mistakes, so it still requires some human supervision. For that, it features a physical approval button. So, the system won’t complete an action until you press that button and confirm that this is what you asked for.Repetitive tasks are where Violoop is claimed to be the most reliable. Think of the most boring things you have to do at work – the ones that are time-consuming and do not necessarily require much brainpower. Summarizing emails, organizing folders, saving attachments, creating lists and tables, comparing products. The list goes on, and Violoop is designed to handle it. In simple words, it is pretty much a small computer that autonomously operates your big computer. Violoop needs its own power socket – it's not powered by the computerVioloop Of course, letting AI watch you work raises concerns about security and privacy. According to the creators, Violoop doesn’t send your screen information or files to the cloud. Everything gets processed internally on the device itself, which has 128 GB of storage for that task.There is one exception worth mentioning though. If you need to use a larger AI model, some data might need to go to the AI provider’s cloud, and that costs extra. Otherwise, Violoop doesn’t require any subscription – you just pay for the hardware.A bonus feature that some people might find useful is the so-called “Away Mode.” Violoop can receive commands and approvals through a mobile app. You can command it, for example, to rename hundreds of files in a certain way, and go grocery shopping in the meantime. By the time you’re back, the work will be completed.Violoop is compatible with all the major systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. The interface looks pretty similar to that of ChatGPT, and this is where you interact with Violoop.The early-bird Kickstarter pledge price is US$399, and in retail it will go up to $699. Assuming the campaign is successful, shipping is currently scheduled for November. VIOLOOP - PLUG-IN AI FOR YOUR COMPUTER Sources: Kickstarter, VioloopNote: New Atlas may earn commission from purchases made via links.